Norwich — The effects of the coronavirus pandemic continue to have a profound impact on the youngest learners in the district.

Christina Carter, a parent of students in kindergarten and second grade at Moriarty Environmental Sciences Magnet School in Norwich, said some kindergarten students have never been in a school building before because the typical preschool experience was altered by the pandemic. The difficult transition has resulted in behavior issues that make her fear for the safety of her children and the teachers in the school system, she said.

Carter said there was an incident Monday during which a behavioral therapist at Moriarty was punched in the face by a student, requiring an ambulance trip to the hospital for a concussion. Carter said she found out about it because she knows the staff member personally.

"I'm nervous sending my kids to school every day because I know about this, but what else is going on? Nobody has addressed it," she said. "It's really nerve-wracking."

While Carter classified the incident as an assault, Superintendent of Schools Kristen Stringfellow denied any assault occurred.

"There are no children assaulting teachers," she said. "Of that I'm sure."

Stringfellow in a phone interview Friday said children experienced "quite a bit of trauma" throughout the pandemic, including the loss of family members to COVID-19, their own illnesses and extreme isolation.

"Now that they are returning to school with all of their friends, some of them — particularly our youngest learners in preschool and kindergarten — are struggling in the transition," she said. "And that is to be expected."

Stringfellow said she could not comment on medical issues involving staff members or students.

Norwich police said there was one call for service from Moriarty on Monday at 11:24 a.m. American Ambulance was dispatched, but not police. Police would have responded if there was an indication an assault had occurred or a mental health crisis was involved, according to the department.

An employee with American Ambulance did not have immediate access to information about the call and could not specify if anyone was transported to a hospital.

Carter said behavioral issues she has witnessed while dropping off her children include yelling and swearing. She said stories recounted by her youngest daughter of misbehavior in the classroom have not improved since school began six weeks ago.

Stringfellow said the district had prepared for what it knew would be a difficult transition by putting fewer kids in classrooms, adding behavioral supports and teachers, and participating in trainings.

She said before the pandemic, behavioral health structure involving teams of registered behavior technicians would be dispatched to the different schools as needed. Now, it includes between one and three dedicated therapists at each school.

She estimated the district has tripled its workforce of behavior technicians, though she said it could always use more.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, invoked the importance of behavioral supports in the schools at a Friday news conference in front of Connecticut Children's Medical Center. He was there to talk about the mental health crisis among children and its effect on the hospitals that serve them.

He said one way to reduce the number of hospitalizations is to address mental health concerns before they get to a crisis point. He cited funding for mental health screenings and more behavioral health supports at schools as critical to achieving that goal.

"COVID cases may decline. The infection rates may diminish and we may begin to turn the corner on this pandemic, but the psychological effects will be lasting," he said. "We will be haunted by the psychological effects of COVID in our children for years to come."

Staffing shortages aren't helping

Both Carter and Stringfellow agreed that staff members leaving the education field and a lack of candidates to replace them are a problem amid the pandemic.

Stringfellow said schools throughout the state are experiencing staffing shortages. In Norwich, that has manifested most profoundly among teachers, paraprofessionals and substitute teachers.

Carter, a member of the school's Parent Teacher Organization, said she has volunteered to help in class because there's not enough coverage by paraeducators. She heard of students in one fourth grade class who had to be split up and sent to different classrooms because there were no substitute teachers available.

Stringfellow said some staff members have decided that "teaching or being a para is not what they want to do for the rest of their lives." Others are on typical leaves of absence for maternity or surgeries.

"There's not as many people in the workforce after the pandemic, and that has been a struggle," she said, citing particular difficulty finding special education, math and science teachers.

The district is down two math teachers and two science teachers at Kelly STEAM Magnet Middle School and an art teacher at Teachers' Memorial Global Studies Magnet Middle School, she said. With the hiring of several teachers this week, she characterized the situation as improving but said the district is not at full capacity yet.

Moriarty's principal, Kathryn O'Donnell, started this year after she was selected in August from a pool of finalists culled through the search for a new principal at Wequonnoc Arts & Technology Magnet School, according to the district. She replaced Kristie Bourdoulous, whose last day was Aug. 20. O'Donnell served as the science and technology curriculum coordinator for the Wallingford school district, the Norwich district said.

For Carter, the biggest problem with the situation in Norwich Public Schools is the lack of communication with parents about the behavior issues in the classrooms. She also said an email she sent to officials, including Stringfellow, school board members and Mayor Peter Nystrom, went unanswered.

"I feel lucky I have friends within the system so I know about things that are happening, and I feel terrible there are parents who don't know this stuff is going on," she said.

School board Chairman Heather Romanski and Nystrom did not return calls for comment.

Carter contrasted the lack of communication around what she classified as the assault of the behavioral therapist to a situation two years ago when a student brought a Nerf gun on the bus.

"The school system immediately sent out text messages and emails and letters to every family in the school system because a kid brought a Nerf gun on the school bus and yet there's people physically being harmed and we're not hearing anything about that," she said.

Stringfellow reiterated there was nothing to tell parents because no assault occurred. She said she did not respond to the email from Carter because it was sent as a mass email and she did not think the sender expected a response from her.

She said administrators return all direct communications within 24 hours.

For Stringfellow, the issue is that children are struggling.

"If you're saying to me 'are very young students struggling with the transition to school, the answer is yes," she said. "If you're saying 'are our staff members being assaulted,' the answer is no."

She asked for empathy from those in the school community toward struggling children.

"Oftentimes young children will communicate through behavior. They're not sure why they're uncomfortable or upset, but they are — and when they are unable to find the words to describe to adults what's happening in their minds or their emotions, then they might drop a book on the ground or kick a chair and act out in that way," she said. "It's our responsibility as adults to unpack what's going on."

She said the district's registered behavioral technicians are trained to address those issues.

But Carter still wants assurances that there is going to be a behavioral technician assigned to the school, since the staff member she said was injured had already announced she was leaving next week for a new job.

Stringfellow could not confirm if the vacancy had been filled because she did not have access to her computer, she said. She said she would follow up with the district's special education director next week.

e.regan@theday.com